The invention relates generally to a vehicle seat assembly and more particularly to a minimal number of standard components that can be assembled to form vehicle sidewall and rear seats of various lengths that are also adaptable for use where the seat assemblies may be spaced at different distances from the vehicle's side walls.
In the past, vehicles such as buses have required a number of seats having different sizes and shapes within their interior. The majority of the seats of a forward facing variety having one of their ends attached to the side wall of the vehicle. These seats were of the pedestal of cantalever variety. Different seat models were found over the front and rear wheel wells of the buses. These were side facing seats and in many instances the length of the two forward side facing seats were different. The side facing seats mounted over the rear wheel wells of the buses in some instances were also different lengths from each other and in some instances different in length from the side facing seats at the front of the bus. In addition to the side facing seats just mentioned, a rear seat extending across the rear wall of the bus was also required. As a result, the bus manufacturer had to stock as many as five or six different model seats. This proved costly both from the amount of money tied up in inventory and also because of the amount of space required for storing so many seats during manufacturing operations. In instances where the ultimate user of the bus would maintain a spares section, he would also have to inventory as many as five or six different types of seats. This again was costly from the space requirement and from the amount of money tied up in these different models of seats in their inventory.
It is an object of the invention to provide a minimal number of seat components that can be assembled into vehicle seat assemblies of different lengths.
It is also an object of the invention to provide vehicle seat components that can be utilized for assembling both side facing seats and forward facing seats.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel seat mounting structure that can be attached to the basic vehicle seat components thus allowing a standard seat to be utilized even though its spacing from the side wall might be different in various vehicles.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a minimum number of standardized components that can be utilized to assemble side facing seats and forward facing seats of various lengths.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a minimum number of standardized seat components that can be utilized to assemble various model seats to thereby reduce the amount of inventory that need be maintained on hand by either the vehicle manufacturer or the ultimate consumer as spare parts.